IP Key LA fosters the “network effect” in Latin American IP offices

IP Key Latin America, with the support of the Costa Rica Intellectual Property Register (RNPI), hosted a workshop in San José, Costa Rica, focused on EU-created IP tools. The activity is based on the experience of the European Union Intellectual Property Network –which promoted the adoption of common practices and the development and deployment of technological tools that improve the functioning of IP offices and provide easy access to information on trademarks and designs.  

The goal of the workshops was to achieve a full “knowledge transfer” process, in order to hand the tools over for implementation of TMView and/or DesignView. This was possible thanks to the work previously done in workshops carried out by EUIPO during the final months of 2017.

The workshop was attended by Latin American IP Offices which had already an advanced process of integration and deployment of the aforesaid tools. During the 5-day workshops, IP Key LA also promoted the integration of trademarks and designs from the participant offices, as well as an exchange of information and full technology transfer to guarantee the maintenance of such integrations in the future.

Officers specialized in IT and trademarks and designs from Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay had the opportunity to work in test environments and plan next steps in order to implement such technology in the short term. These actions will bring the region closer to the extension of the IP network that fosters global cooperation among EU countries, third countries and multilateral organizations.

Institutions such as IMPI (Mexico), INPI (Brazil), INDECOPI (Peru), SIC (Colombia), INPI (Argentina) and INAPI (Chile) have already integrated one or more of these tools, a meaningful progress in the dissemination of the network effect in Latin America.